My son emails about his new baby, his first child. He’s so excited, can’t believe he’s actually a dad etc.

At one point, he says he thinks the baby looks like him.

I look at the picture he has emailed of the baby and I think, does she? I totally forget, that I have never been “good” at seeing who babies look like.

So I ask, if his wife agrees.

He answers that everyone agrees.

Do I stop then?

No, I write back, well I can see yes to the forehead and the eyes, don’t know about the lower face.

Later, I’m walking along and I think, what was that about?

What came to me, was that it was about insecurity on my part. Thoughts of what kind of mother can’t tell whether this baby looks like her son did when he was a baby

After receiving the next batch of pictures I sent an email that said, “Have I mentioned that your daughter grows more beautiful in each picture, and since she looks like her dad, she will continue to do so”

And you know what?

The guy stepped right back onto his old Joyful Papa path.

It was like my previous comments had been erased from his Reality.